Shanker Courting Teachers On Island

The tall figure of Albert Shanker, a dominant force in New York City school affairs for the last seven years, will soon be casting its shadow across the Long Island school scene.

The 42‐year‐old union leader, who last month was elected president of the newly formed United Teachers of New York State, is planning to personally head a campaign to gain members and bargaining rights in Nassau and Suffolk Counties.

Since most of the nonunion teachers in the area already either belong to or are represented by the New York State Teachers Association, the state's union's aspirations will bring it into direct conflict with its well‐entrenched and much larger rival. Observers believe that the competition between the two organizations will undoubtedly be reflected in greater teacher militancy—not that Long Island teachers have been noted for docility—in local school affairs and at the bargaining table.

“We regard Long Island as a key area,” said Dan Sanders, who has long served as Mr. Shanker's assistant in the city and who is now also the executive director of the United Teachers.

The state union is expanding its Long Island staff and is moving to larger quarters in Melville. But the key figure in the union drive will be Mr. Shanker, who has gained national prominence as president of the United Federation of Teachers in the city and as the man who led city teacher strikes in 1967 and 1968.

The union is mapping an extensive Long Island speaking schedule for Mr. Shanker, who is a forceful orator. These appearances will be followed by what Mr. Sanders will only refer to as “other actions.”

The State Teachers Association, which recently won a bargaining election in Lawrence and led a six‐day strike in Bellport (“a stunning victory,” according to the group), says it is not worried about the challenge from the United Teachers and Mr. Shanker.

“The union is only a little thorn in our side outside of New York City,” said Harry Krause, a spokesman for the association. Even so, the association, which is affiliated with the National Education Association is not taking the challenge lightly. It has mounted a strong public relations and information campaign and other activities to counteract the union thrust.

Emanuel Kafka, the Hempstead teacher who is completing his second one‐year‐term as president of the State Teachers Association, said that the state union would “have a long hill to climb before it's in the same league as our association.”

The figures would appear to bear out Mr. Kafka. The United Teachers, which represents a renaming and restructuring of the 25‐year‐old State Federation of Teachers, has 85,000 members. This, however, includes the 72,000 members of the United Federation of Teachers in New York City. The state association has 105,000 members.

The United Teachers says it has 4,000 dues‐paying members on Long Island and represents 5,000 teachers in districts where it has bargaining rights, including Massapequa, Plainview and Farmingdale.

The state association, which has its regional Long Island office in Jericho, says it has 30,000 dues‐paying members in the two counties and is the bargaining representative for 38,000 teachers in 116, Long Island districts, among them Great Neck, Freeport and Smithtown.

One reason for the intensive competition between the. two groups is that each is trying to forge a statewide organization that would represent all teachers, including those in higher education as well as public school systems. This is seen as a first step towards the eventual formation of a single national teachers organization.

In the past there were wide ideological differences between teachers who belonged to the union and those who prefered the association. The association refered to itself as a “professional” organization, as opposed to a trade union, and eschewed such labor terms and tactics as collective bargaining (preferring “professional negotiations”) and strikes (preferring “professional sanctions”).

The outcome of the battle for the allegiance of Long Island's teachers, which is now shaping up, could be an indicator of whether the United Teachers or the state association will emerge as the dominant and perhaps sole teacher organization in the state.

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A version of this archives appears in print on November 7, 1971, on Page A1 of the New York edition with the headline: Shanker Courting Teachers On Island. Order Reprints|Today's Paper|Subscribe